Islamic Legal System

1.

Islamic legal system
Done by : Mohammad Mouawia

2.

Plan:
1.General characteristic of Islamic legal system
2.History of its development
3.The structure of Islamic law
4.The sources of Islamic law

3.

General characteristic of Islamic legal system
Sharia is the ideal form of divine guidance that Muslims
follow to live a righteous life. Human interpretations of
sharia, or fiqh, are the basis of Islamic law today.
Islamic law has a value of adaptability and flexibility,
but also as a revelation that comes from God
Almighty, Islamic law also are rigid, immortal and
cannot be personalised way.

4.

The primary objectives of Islamic law (maqasid shari'a) are
the protection of life, property, mind, religion, and
offspring. The State thus has, under Islamic law, to protect
property and by extension the inviolability of homes.
The legalities pertaining to areas such as, but not
limited to, Islamic family law, Islamic law of
inheritance, and Islamic Law of Contract remain
deeply embedded within the constitutions and
statutes of Muslim majority countries today

5.

Sharia is a religious law forming part of the Islamic tradition. It is derived
from the religious precepts of Islam and is based on the sacred scriptures
of Islam, particularly the Quran and the Hadith. In Arabic, the term sharia
refers to God's immutable divine law and is contrasted with fiqh , which
refers to its human scholarly interpretations The manner of its application
in modern times has been a subject of dispute between Muslims and
Secularists.

6.

Traditional theory of Islamic jurisprudence recognizes four sources of Sharia:
the Quran, sunnah (authentic hadith), qiyas (analogical reasoning), and ijma
(juridical consensus).Different legal schools—of which the most prominent are
Hanafi, Maliki, Shafiʽi, and Hanbali—developed methodologies for deriving
Sharia rulings from scriptural sources using a process known as ijtihad.
Traditional jurisprudence (fiqh) distinguishes two principal branches of law,
ʿibādāt (rituals) and muʿāmalāt (social relations), which together comprise a
wide range of topics. Its rulings are concerned with ethical standards as much
as with legal norms, assigning actions to one of five categories: mandatory,
recommended, neutral, abhorred, and prohibited. Thus, some areas of Sharia
overlap with the Western notion of law while others correspond more broadly
to living life in accordance with God's will.

7.

History of its development
The place where Islam was born is Arabian Peninsula. This country has a land
of one million square miles (or 625,000 squares Kms) which is mainly
dominated by desert and steppe areas. It was inhibited by Bedawin tribes who
were nomads and pastoralists. They were moving from place to place looking
water and pasture for their flocks of sheep and camels. The community was
based on tribe that consisted of descendants of the same blood and was bound
not only together through blood but also a strong almost unbreakable sense of
fraternity.
The tribe had rules which held it together. These rules differ from tribe to tribe
so we may say there were no uniform set of laws. This task was left to be
accomplished by Islam as we will discuss next.

8.

The Period of the Prophet (PBUH)
To understand this period it is worthy to know about the life of the Prophet
Mohammed (PBUH) very briefly. The Prophet was born in 570 A.D. He lost his father
and mother at his child hood. For that reason he was looked after by his grandfather
who died when the Prophet was eight. In spite of all those lose the Prophet was
strong hearted.
In 595 AD at the age of 25 he married a rich widow named Khadijah who was not
simply a wife. Rather she was a disciple. Another woman who played an important
role in Islam was Aisha. It seems why Attallah. N. wrote” Central to the Story of the
birth of Islam are two remarkable women; Khadijah, the Prophet’s first wife and
disciple, and Aisha, the girl who became his youngest wife and the source for much
of hadith”

9.

Prophet Mohammed received the first revelation through the Angel Jibril
(Gabriel) in 610A.D. First he started teaching Islam to his friends and family.
Then in 613 A.D he started teaching in public. This brought him opposition
which led to the boy-cott of the Hashim, Muhammed’s clan. The purpose of
that boy-cott was organized to isolate him and expose him for attack.
This led him to seek a suitable place to spread the message without
obstacles. Therefore in 620 A.D, he began consultation with clans in Medina
to facilitate his move there. Consequently he was visited by 12 men from
Medina in 621 A.D. Again in 622 A.D he was visited by a group of 75 persons
who declared their support for him and his message. This resulted in his
migration from Mecca to Medina in 622 A.D. This period of departure and
emigration of Mohammed and his followers from Mecca to Medina is known
as thehijirahto Muslims [PBUH], and is the starting point of Islamic history.

10.

The Period of the Caliphs (Khalifs)
The prophet (PBUH) died in 632. The period of the caliphs followed. It was between 632-661 A.D. Four caliphs accessed
the Prophet (PBUH). They were Abu baker (573-634 AD), Umar (584-644 AD), Uthman (577-656 AD) and Ali (600-661
AD). Now we will discuss each caliph at a time very briefly.
Abu baker
We are not going to discuss the life history Abu baker in detail. What we will do is we will discuss what were the
measure things attributed by him to Islam which we will do, as well, for other caliphs. It is worth to raise one point
related with the appointment of Abu baker. Some historians say that the Prophet (PBUH) had selected Abu-Baker to
precede him after his death. For this argument they mention the fact that the Prophet (PBUH) shortly before his death
selected Abu-Baker to lead the Muslims in one of the most important religious functionaries (Friday Prayer)
Others say this is against the very essence of democracy that exists in Islam. They argued that the prophet left this
open. For “Abu baker’s designation as a leader was symbolized by the offering of baya (Oath), a handclasp used by the
Arabs to seal a contract, in this case an oath of obedience and allegiance The reason why the Sahaba (Companions of
the Prophet) gave this baya was for the Sahaba Knew him to be the best among them.

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He also demonstrated that by accomplishing the following;
He took up on himself the task of collecting the Quran. During the life time of the Prophet the text of the Quran was
preserved.
In memories
Inscription on such material as stones wood and bone
He quenched the insurgency that had arisen immediately after the Prophet’s (PBUH) death
Islam expanded to lands of Syria, Iraq and Palestine.
He ordered the codification and collection of the traditional sayings (Hadith) of the Prophet (PBUH) before they were
forgotten with the sands of time.

12.

Umar
He was the second caliph who stepped into the seat of leadership that was vacated when Abu baker died in Medina
in 634 AD. Before we enumerate the task he accomplished it is worth to mention one point about Umar which
describes how he was fearsome among his tribes. Al-Misri writes “(I) bn Masud later observed, “(W) e were not able
to pray by the Kaaba until Umar became Muslim”
The following tasks were undertaken by him
Egypt and all Arabian Peninsula were added to the dominions of Islam.
12,000 Mosques were built
He related about 537 Hadith, from the Prophet (PBUH).
Dated Islamic events from the year of the Hijirah
Uthman
He was the third caliph who received the caliphate shortly after Omar’s death in AH 23. Some of the tasks
accomplished by Uthman were
Much of the Balkans, Cyprus and much of the North Africa were added to the dominions of Isla

13.

The task of collection, verification and systematic compilation of the Holy Quran which was commenced with Abu baker
was completed. Thus written copies were compiled in to one single volume. This copy was sent to all sectors of the
Islamic world.
He had related 146 Hadith from the Prophet (PBUH)
Ali
He was the fourth and the last caliph. He was born in 600 AD in Mecca. He was the cousin of the Prophet (PBUH) who latter
arranged a marriage between Ali and his daughter Fatima whom he cherished and adored
Ali transferred the capital city from Mecca to Kufa when he took office in AH.35. Some of his attributes were he:
He was among the learnt ones among the companions
He related hundreds of Hadith
He was a diplomat and states man of the highest echelon and showed familiarity of the highest order in the political
administrate in social and legal duties a governing body owed to its people.

14.

The Period of Umayyad
In the previous sections we have seen how Islam brought its domain into vast areas during the caliphate period. Thus, people
within the Islamic Empire became aware of the importance, force and wielding that political power could bring. Among many
factors, that was then one that led to the establishment of the Umayyad governance which was first established by Mu’a Wiyah.
The Umayyad dynasty stayed on power from 661 AD to 750AD.
During this period significant progress was made in Islamic Law. The public law sphere was standardized, codified and
established while the private law spheres remained diverse. The first Islamic Jurisprudence schools, whose main purposes were
to spread and teach the message of Islam, were established
The Period of the Abbasids
The Abbasids, who are the Prophet’s (PBUH) cousins, came to the throne in 750 AD. They did that with the help of the Persians.
They accused the Umayyad for distortion and dilution of the Islamic Law to suit the exigencies of the times without a proper
consideration and due regard to the basic tenets of Islam. What are the achievements in Islam?
A scholarly theology evolved where in the articles and principles of Islamic faith and the Attributes of Allah were examined and
conversed about, in order to ascertain the Unity of Allah the Most High.

15.

The doctrine of constitutionalism was created. Thus every community was represented by a council of state.
Legal scholars were encouraged to respect, examine and deduce the mode of operation of the law within the
Muslim Community,
Traditions of the Prophet (PBUH) were collected and the jurisprudence of the sources of Islamic Law were
codified and written.
The Quran was analyzed.
This resulted in the birth of four notable Sunni schools of legal thoughts. These are:
The school of Abu Haifa (700-795 Ad)
The school of Malik ibn Anas (713-795AD)
The school of Mohammed ibn-Idris Ash Shafi (767-820Ad)
The school of Ahmad Ibn-Hanbli (780-855Ad)

16.

The structure of Islamic law
The Qur'an is the principal source of Islamic law, the Sharia. It contains the
rules by which the Muslim world is governed (or should govern itself) and
forms the basis for relations between man and God, between individuals,
whether Muslim or non-Muslim, as well as between man and things which
are part of creation
The Sharia regulates all human actions and puts them into five categories:
obligatory, recommended, permitted, disliked or forbidden. Obligatory actions
must be performed and when performed with good intentions are rewarded.
The opposite is forbidden action.

17.

The primary objectives of Islamic law (maqasid shari'a) are the protection of
life, property, mind, religion, and offspring. The State thus has, under Islamic
law, to protect property and by extension the inviolability of homes
In practice, since early on in Islamic history, criminal cases were usually
handled by ruler-administered courts or local police using procedures which
were only loosely related to sharia.
The Islamic Sharia discusses all matters of religion and life. ... The civil
division in Islamic jurisprudence (i.e. transactions) is different from
western litigation on civil law as Islamic Jurisprudence is governed by the
idea of lawful and prohibited acts.

18.

The Qur'an contains a variety of law-making provisions and legal proscriptions interspersed
throughout its chapters (suwar) and verses (ayat). A number of rules exist for interpreting
these provisions, such as the position of a given ayah within the context of the surah, which
in turn is interpreted in accordance with its place in the sequence of revelations, its reference
to other revelations, and its historical context in relation to particular conditions which
existed at the time of the given revelation. These and other rules are known as the science of
interpretation (ilm usul aI-fiqh). According to these rules, for example, one initially is to refer
to a specific provision and then to a general provision dealing with a particular situation. No
general provision can be interpreted to contradict a specific provision, and a specific rule will
supersede a general proposition. A general provision, however, is always interpreted in the
broadest manner, while a specific provision is interpreted in the narrowest manner.
Reasoning by analogy is permitted, as are applications by analogy, except where expressly
prohibited. Simplicity and clear language are always preferred. Similarly, the clear spirit of
certain prescriptions cannot be altered by inconsistent interpretations. A policy-oriented
interpretation within the confines of the rules of jurisprudence is permissible and even
recommended, as is the case with the doctrine of ijtihad (progressive reasoning by analogy).

19.

"Avoid condemning the Muslim to Hudud whenever you can, and when you can find a way out for the
Muslim then release him for it. If the Imam errs it is better that he errs in favor of innocence (pardon)
than in favor of guilt (punishment)."
The Prophet's Hadith
"Were people to be given in accordance with their claim, men would claim the fortunes and lives of
(other) people, but the onus of proof is on the claimant and the taking of an oath is incumbent upon him
who denies."
The Prophet's Hadith
Muslim scholars do not consider Islam to be an evolving religion, but rather a religion and legal system
which applies to all times. It is, therefore, the application that is susceptible to evolution. Indeed, the
provisions of the Qur'an are such that by their disciplined interpretation, with the aid of the Hadith and
Sunna and other sources of interpretation, Islam can, as intended, provide the solution to contemporary
social problems.
Fourteen centuries ago Islam was a spiritual, social, and legal revolution. Its potential for effecting
progress remains unchanged. This is essentially the belief of enlightened fundamentalist Muslims. Islamic
fundamentalism is not, therefore, a regressive view of history and contemporary reality. Islam at the
height of its civilization, between the seventh and eleventh centuries, was neither repressive nor
regressive. It was a progressive, humanistic, and legalistic force for reform and justice.

20.

The sources of Islamic law
The primary sources of Islamic law are the Holy Book (The
Quran), The Sunnah (the traditions or known practices of
the Prophet Muhammad ), Ijma' (Consensus), and Qiyas
(Analogy).
There are two primary sources of Islamic law. They are the
Qu'ran and the Sunnah. The Qu'ran is the book which contains
revelations the prophet Muhammad received from Allah.

21.

These four sources namely Quran, Sunna, Ijma and Qiyas
are the primary sources of law. Muslim law mainly based
on verses of Quran and practices of hadith. There is
secondary source of Muslim law which subsequent of it.
The two primary and transmitted sources of Islamic Law are the
Qurʾān and the Sunna (Prophetic traditions and practices). ... The
Qurʾān is considered the most sacred and important source of
Islamic Law, which contains verses related to god, human beliefs
and how a particular believer should live in this worldly life